I was hiking in the Diablo Range near San Jose, CA yesterday and had the good fortune to be there when a storm front was moving in. This is the Joseph D. Grant County Park on the Dutch Flat trail (2,457 feet) looking into the Hall Valley. That's Mount Hamilton (4,360 feet) on the other side. The Lick Observatory is located on top of the biggest peaks and is the world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory. It was constructed between 1876 and 1887. The Mt. Hamilton Road was cut and everything was hauled up on mule-drawn wagons.

The late summer California hills and storm clouds were amazing. Here are a few shots from the hike you might enjoy.

2. Original photo edited in Luminar using the "Auto Smart Enhancer" at 66.

3. An HDR photo from a series of three bracketed shots (two stops plus and minus) with middle shot -0.3. The middle shot is displayed above. Created in Luminance, Drago operator.

4. Another HDR image in Luminance using Mantiuk 06 operator. Same three bracketed shots as in #3.

5. Lastly, this lone large oak tree growing along the trail intrigued me with the odd fence palings growing into it. It's not an ordinary pasture barbed wire fence...it looks like the fence that would grow in a front yard, but there is no evidence of any structures nearby. Photo was edited in Luminar to create focus on the tree and fence and make the background recede.

6. Here's the map of Grant Park and the loop I did. Photos were taken near the Mile 2 marker. I was in the woods near dusk and started worrying about becoming mountain lion dinner.

Unless something has changed, the fact that the components for the observatory had to be hauled up by mules dictated a whole lot of switchbacks, which became the paved road. Which has a WHOLE LOT of switchbacks.

4
posted on 09/21/2017 2:04:24 PM PDT
by sparklite2
(I'm less interested in the rights I have than the liberties I can take.)

There’s old and there’s old. I’m 66 and retired three months ago. Getting to do a LOT more of what I like now and hopefully can keep this up another 10, maybe 15 years. My wife is even better at hiking than me. She is doing 9 milers on weekends with her girlfriends with 800 feet elevation gain.

We did a 9 miler in Rocky Mountain National Park a couple weeks ago at 8,200 to 8,900 feet — that was tough having just gotten off the plane from the California coast! Followed it up a day later with a 5 miler at 9,200 feet west of Colorado Springs to Rampart Reservoir.

No, haven’t tried Sierra Vista Open Space yet. I’ll have to add it to my destination list. I usually stay on the west side of the valley in the Santa Cruz mountains. Hiked Butano State Park last weekend and, after passing a few people and a Boy Scout troop in the first mile or so, had the next 4 miles completely to myself. Being deep in the redwoods all by yourself is amazing.

Saw a huge drift of young pigs and adults around the equestrian parking lot/campground. Then nothing but some lizards and small birds until about 5:00 when I reached the eastern park boundary. Then the wildlife all came out as I was coming back down Hall Valley. I’ve never seen such large coveys of California quail (must have been a hundred in two coveys); a beautiful falcon; lots of red tail hawks looking for dinner; lots of wild turkeys; and the usual assortment of ground squirrels, deer, and crows. Came upon a turkey vulture eating a freshly killed carcass at a cattle pond. Those things are BIG. No cats (both fortunately and unfortunately). I make a lot of noise at dusk to keep the cats away. Didn’t see any frogs.

It’s going to be green again soon! Got spritzed with rain yesterday, but not enough to have to pull the rain jacket out of the pack.

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